The Mortal Storm
| The Mortal Storm | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Frank Borzage |
| Produced by | Frank Borzage Victor Saville |
| Starring | Margaret Sullavan James Stewart Robert Young Frank Morgan Robert Stack |
| Music by | Bronislau Kaper Eugene Zador |
| Cinematography | William H. Daniels Lloyd Knechtel Leonard Smith |
| Editing by | Elmo Veron |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | June 14, 1940 |
| Running time | 100 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Mortal Storm (1940) is a drama film from MGM[1][2] starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, and directed by Frank Borzage.
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[edit] Production background
The Mortal Storm was one of the few directly anti-Nazi Hollywood films released before the American entry into World War II in December 1941. The film stars James Stewart as a German who refuses to join the rest of his small Bavarian town in supporting Nazism. He falls in love with Freya Roth (Margaret Sullavan), the daughter of a Junker mother and a "non-Aryan" father. The Mortal Storm was the last movie Sullavan and Stewart ever did together.
Freya and her father are implied to be Jews but the word "Jew" is never used, and they are only identified as "non-Aryans"; in addition, Freya's half brothers are all members of the Nazi Party. Though it is understood that the film is set in Germany, the name of the country is rarely mentioned except at the very beginning in a short text of introduction. MGM purposely did not mention the name of the country or the religion of Freya's family because of the large German market for its films, but it was to no avail—the movie infuriated the Nazi government and it led to all MGM films being banned in Germany.
The supporting cast includes Robert Young, Robert Stack, Frank Morgan (Professor Marvel and the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz), Dan Dailey, Ward Bond, Maria Ouspenskaya, William T. Orr, and Bonita Granville, who was the first actress to play Nancy Drew onscreen.
The film is based on the 1938 novel The Mortal Storm by the British writer Phyllis Bottome. Mountain snow scenes were filmed at Salt Lake City, Utah and Sun Valley, Idaho.[3]
[edit] Plot
In 1933, Freya Roth (Sullavan) is a young German girl engaged to a Nazi party member (Young). When she realizes the true nature of his political views, she breaks the engagement and turns her attention to anti-Nazi Martin Breitner (Stewart).
Later, trying to flee the Nazi regime, Freya and Martin attempt to ski across the border to safety in Austria. Freya is gunned down by the Nazis (under reluctant orders from her ex-fiance, who has tried to spare her, but has been ordered to track her down by his superiors). Martin, at her request, picks her up and skis into Austria so she can die in a free country.
Frank Morgan is billed fourth (on the film's pictured poster, for example), but this is Morgan's film all the way. He gives the performance of a lifetime as the German university professor whose personal and professional lives are destroyed by the rise of the Nazis.
[edit] Cast
- Margaret Sullavan as Freya Roth
- James Stewart as Martin Breitner
- Robert Young as Fritz Marberg
- Frank Morgan as Prof. Viktor Roth
- Robert Stack as Otto von Rohn
- Bonita Granville as Elsa
- Irene Rich as Amelie Roth
- William T. Orr as Erich von Rohn
- Maria Ouspenskaya as Hilda Breitner
- Gene Reynolds as Rudi Roth
- Russell Hicks as Rector of University
- William Edmunds as Lehman, University Doorman
- Esther Dale as Marta, the Roths' Maid
- Dan Dailey as Holl, Youth Party Leader (billed as Dan Dailey, Jr.)
- Granville Bates as Prof. Berg
[edit] References
- ^ Variety film review; June 12, 1940, page 14.
- ^ Harrison's Reports film review; June 22, 1940, page 98.
- ^ Turner Classic Movies: The Mortal Storm (notes)
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Mortal Storm |
- The Mortal Storm at the Internet Movie Database
- The Mortal Storm at AllRovi
- The Mortal Storm at the TCM Movie Database
- Review of The Mortal Storm in The New York Times (June 21, 1940)
